Sheltering The Tired Spirit

The sky above; the earth below. These are the people for whom night-shelters have been created. Osama Manzar reports
0, I have passed a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
I would not spend another such a night,
I am an educated boy, I got a second in the metric exam, having missed a first division By just ten marks. There’s no money at home. Somehow that made me wild and so I came here. But, I do not feel at home. I think I will even tually leave.”
Sixteen-year-old Ajit Kumar is in one of the 40 Rain-baser as (night shelters) in Delhi. This one is on ASAP Ali Road near Turk-man Gate, and has over 400 night-shelter users. He says he is educated and therefore feels uncomfortable in this milieu. In fact, he keeps stressing on the fact his background is different. But he and his family were impoverished, and so he left his home in anger. But he’ is going back. He cannot afford to miss his studies. “Now I will earn through tuitions”, says Ajit in a more confident tone.
However, Ajit is an exception. The others are not like him. They find that their outlook and lifestyle fits in well with this environment. As the supervisor of this particular night-shelter, Ban-wan Lal says, “The people who come here are by and large, drug addicts. In addition to drugs, they also consume liquor, smack, churas, ganja etc.” At times, he gets fed up and feels the place is like a lunatic asylum. But for the users, it is the only place where they feel at home and 90 per cent of them have been around for years. They are a motley crowd, of all age groups, like Harish is 25, and Mayan Ji is 70! They have no intention of leaving. Narrates Harish, “I have been living here for the last nine years. I don’t want to go home, thought my parents live in Melvia Nagar - my step-mother does not behave properly”. Harish earns his livelihood by selling toys around tourist spots and also acts as a guide to foreigners. His earning, which ranges from Rs.20 to Rs.100, is enough for him and keeps him happy. For him, “it’s like a family, my all friends are here, I have no desire, whatsoever, to go from here”.
Ravi Roy, 25, a Bengali from Calcutta is similar in many ways to Harish in the sense his circumstances are much the same. He is, however, well dressed and has a touch of style. At first glance, he looked like the local dada. “Bolo Saab, kya poochhna hai?” (Ask whatever you want.) When asked why he did not look for better place he laughed like a villain (perhaps he modeled himself on one) and said “Those landlords loot you. Rents are sky rocketing He finds Delhi far too costly. His monthly income of Rs.800, as an operator in the Mahajan Printing Press, near Ajmeri Gate, does not allow him to take a room, on rent. “So long as the environment here is good, I will continue to live here.
 Not only for Ravi Roy, but for every one else who lives here, Rain-baser a is their destiny. Whether it is Birendra Singh, 47, who had come four years back from Lucknow or Miahji, 70, who belongs to Muradabad and works in a factory or Pram Shankar, 15, who is a coolie and left Unnao four years earlier, it is the only home’ they know. Their common problems, their lot in life, somehow binds them together and they find solace in each other’s company.
Lack of finances is an important factor for all the 400 who live here. Not just for Prem, but for all the rest some of whom are rickshaw pullers, coolies, rag-pickers, pavement dwellers, coo- lies, etc. These people find it difficult to worry about anything beyond mere, survival and the question of a standard of living is not on their minds.
Aside from this reason, why do they live here? Spending a night here under a roof and on a carpet, is always better than sleeping on railway platforms; in the shopping corridors or oil the footpaths under an open sky. Compare these conditions to that of the Rain-basêras, where from seven in the evening to eight in the morning they find respite from the biting cold - in a shelter and under a quilt. The re’s more. They have even been provided with TVs and bathrooms. But, according to the supervisor, they rarely have bath. Their sense of personal hygiene is appalling. In an effort to clean the atmosphere and the items, a sum of Rs.1,800 was allocated towards washing the durries and blankets, in order to them lice and germ free!
There are certain rules and restrictions. Reveals Banware Lal, “During the day, no one is allowed to enter- the complex; there is no provision -for storing luggage; smoking and liquor is strictly prohibited; we maintain documents, and the 13 clerks and bearers, who have been assigned this particular nigh-shelter, are not only responsible for the belongings here but also have to maintain law and order.” However, he could not deny that at, times things do get out of control and when this happens, “we take help from the police”.
Throwing more light on the problem and the solutions envisaged Manjit Singh, Director, Slums, in charge of all Rain baseras in Delhi, says that “Rain-baseras are provided to those people who are totally shelter less, and sleep in the nights on the foot-paths, pavements,. commercial corridors and the areas in the neighborhood of the commercial markets of the city. They are concentrated specially in the area of the walled city, Delhi Gate, Ajmeri Gate, Mon Gate, Kashmiri Gate and extension of the old Delhi areas which are in and around large retail and wholesale markets. That is why most of our night shelters are located in these areas.
On the basis of a survey done a few years back, we find that around 30,000 people, daily, are reported to be sleeping at night on the pavements.
The most popular and the ones in regular use are the shelters around llama Masjid and the railway station, each of which at times accommodates over 700 people.
“I have been in this department for the last 10 years, during which there have been some additions. Azadpur, Sabzi Mandi, Karol Bagh are new areas that have other areas which have been provided Rain-as eras. The users there are mostly vegetable sellers and distributors.
“Basically, these people - the night - shelter users, are completely shelter less.” I too, was wondered why these people sleep here at the cost of Rs.1.50, every day; they could go some where else. But the fact is that most of them are late evening and late night workers in informal sectors. Also, most of them work in un sectors like, rickshaw pulling, vegetable selling, working in dhabas, etc.”
In the meantime, he is very keen, and recently has requested some of the NGOs, voluntary agencies, charitable organizations and social activists to go and see the night-shelters users and talk to them. So that some additional social level input can be put to them through the NGO sector, particularly some adult literacy programmers and skills training schemes. “For this we have already taken help from the Shramik Vidyapeeth, of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. For example, in the rail way station Rain-baser a, small children are taking training in stitching and tailoring.
“Regarding provision of night shelters exclusively for children, we find ourselves constrained by lack of space. These areas are densely populated and the short age of space means that we are severely handicapped. However, we are sensitive to the fact that young children have very special needs and, to safeguard these and protect them from anti social elements, we have a separate section in each Rain-basera, which is devoted to them.”
If all his plans are carried through, and if he performs with the same conviction his words seem to indicate, then one has a lot to hope for, to look forward to. for these tired souls who see! comfort and solace through the night.